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Wednesday, December 10, 2014

The Babadook (opens in Cleveland December 11th exclusively at the Capitol Theatre)

[THE
BABADOOK opens in Cleveland on
Friday December 11th exclusively at the Capitol Theatre.]

Review
by Bob Ignizio

No
parent wants to admit it, but deep down inside, at some point in
time, they've all thought about what it would be like if their child
were gone. And maybe, just for a moment, that didn't seem so bad.
With few exceptions, such thoughts are banished from the mind almost
as soon as they pop in there. Yeah, it sucks that little Billy
smeared poop on his bedroom wall or little Suzy threw the tantrum
from Hell in the middle of Target, but you get over it, because most
of the time you can't imagine how awful life would be without the
little monsters. But in that moment, however brief, those thoughts
can be very real and very terrifying. And it is that kind of fear
that writer/director Jennifer Kent's THE BABADOOK
taps into.

As
the film begins, widow Amelia (Essie Davis) is having a hard time
sleeping through the night because her son Samuel (Noah Wiseman)
keeps her up with his worries about imaginary monsters. Sam is also
having problems at school, eventually leaving Amelia no recourse but
to take him out and look for an alternative. Things only get worse
after Amelia reads Sam a strange children's book called 'Mister
Babadook'. Hell, some adults would probably have nightmares after
reading this thing. Amelia tries to destroy the book, but it comes
back taped together and with new, more disturbing pages added. Sam
continues to get worse and Amelia is practically in an altered state from sleep
deprivation as things come to a head. And whatever is going on, it's not something that can be dispelled by some
exorcist: Sam and Amelia will need to work through this themselves.

It is
all too rare these days to find a horror film this personal, this
original, and this genuinely effective. It's smart, believable, and
scary, offering up fantastic and disturbing imagery that feels like
it came out of some lost silent horror film, as well as exploring the
psyche of its characters to confront the kind of taboo fears no one
wants to think about. Not to mention that freaky voice Mr. Babadook
has (shivers). It's all held together by a director who is supremely
confident in her skills despite the fact that this is only her first
feature, and a small but exceptional cast that is willing and able to
take their performances right up to the edge. It's the best horror
film of 2014. 4 out of 4 stars.

1 comment:

Have heard so many good things about it (including your review), I need to see this one as soon as possible! I love original horror that is actually scary, so many of todays horror films fail to actually scare. This looks awesome, thanks.